CAJ_The most famous hacktivists

The most famous group of hacktivists of our times arguably is WikiLeaks, the individuals behind the leak of various documents related to the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war. With Julian Assange being the mastermind of the project, the organization has had its fair share of scandals. In 2010, Assange was persecuted for allegedly sexual offenses against two women in Sweden which he fled only to be taken in custody in London a few months later. A lot of controversy surrounded this arrest, with many people being suspicious about its timing. It just seemed a bit too convenient for US authorities to have him locked up behind the pen at a critical time for the US government. Whether he is guilty or not has not been decided yet to this very moment – it would arguably be a big disappointment for his supporters and a great victory for his critics if he indeed happened to be guilty.

But what is it that makes the hacktivists behind WikiLeaks as well as its founder such controversial figures? Well, first of all, they released the Afghan War Diary, a compilation of over 70000 documents revealing among other things the controversial relations US intelligent services had with the Taliban during the war, even citing increased Taliban attacks. In 2013, they released details about the CEOs of 20 surveillance companies in Europe.

WikiLeaks is comprised of several well-known hacktivists such as Assange’s former buddy Daniel Domscheit-Berg (now they are estranged with Domscheit_Berg having created his own whistleblower organization named OpenLeaks), the vast majority of its hackers, however, remains unknown to the public. But Assange himself might very well be its most colorful figure. Having been raised by a very anti-authoritarian mother, the Australian seemed predestined for later whistleblower activities. The lack of respect for authorities is something a lot of hacktivists seem to have in common anyway.

Even though Assange as well as Edward Snowden are probably the most well-known hacktivists/ whistleblowers in the public’s eye, I’ve always wondered if there weren’t other, much lesser-known hacktivists possessing as explosive material as the former two. They only distinguish themselves from the former two in regard of the fact that they do not get that much coverage by the media. One of them is the hackitivist Jacob Appelbaum who is currently living in Germany due to better privacy conditions. He created the portmanteau hacktivism and also is in favor of TOR, which is the abbreviation of The Onion Router, a network that enables Internet users to remain totally anonymous while surfing and also allows one to dive into the so-called Deep Web. But more on that later.

CAJ_An introduction to hacktivism

 

 

Hacktivism - criminal or clever ?? 

 

Since it's time for us to get started with our CAJ's, I thought I'll just do a quick introduction on the topic.  Although I guess that everybody kinda knows the term, it is probably difficult to define it. Is it just about the crazy Julian Assange guy and the criminal Anonymous pinching data from other people's computers? Is it the gouvernment that is outrageously criminal or the sneaky hackers? May the questions rest in peace for now and let's start instead with a definition:

 

"Hacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose. The individual who performs an act of hacktivism is said to be a hacktivist. A hacktivist uses the same tools and techniques as a hacker, but does so in order to disrupt services and bring attention to a political or social cause." 

(source: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/hacktivism)

The term “hacktivism” itself is a portmanteau of hack and activism and already indicates a fusion of the negative and the positive. In my CAJ, I am not only going to explore the political hacktivism inspired by the hackers’ political ideals, but also the criminal variation called cyberterrorism. Hacktivism uses cyber attacks based on political motivations to promote a specific cause. As opposed to the hacking industry intent on data theft, hacktivism is not motivated by money and high visibility is key.

I am further going to explore the different forms of hacktivism, take a close look at the most famous hacktivists and various experts on the field. Since hacktivism can partly also be performed by amateurs, popular hacktivism techniques will also be addressed. Another item will be popular hacktivism campaigns as well as the extent to which whistleblowers are threatened by governments or other stakeholders in politics.

Suggestions for academic papers - 5 EU topics worth writing about

Interpreters working for the EU

I’m sure that many of us dream about being an interpreter for the EU as it certainly is a thrilling but also very challenging job. In doing so, it would be advisable to know more about it: What are the requirements for getting such a demanding job? Which languages are most in demand? How do interpreters cope with the time pressure at press conferences and what happens if they make a mistake?

Erasmus

Erasmus is an EU program that enables more than 200000 students every year to spend some time in another EU country. As I would like to go on Erasmus, I figured that getting in on it a bit more certainly wouldn’t hurtJ  Although I really look forward to a semester abroad, I think that I’m not the only one who is a bit deterred by the enormous amounts of bureaucracy stuff you have to fill in. So I think that we could all use some information about that.

Refugees in the EU

When asylum seekers try to cross into the European Union, they know they are putting their lives at risk. Yet thousands of African refugees are stranded somewhere on the European coasts, not knowing if there will be enough compassion for them to be admitted to the European Union. Keyword Lampedusa: How is the EU helping refugees?

Identification with the EU

When I sometimes ride on a bus and I hear people talking about various current events including whether or not Austria should resign its EU membership, I wonder if Austrians identify with the EU at all. I guess that a lot of people in Austria can’t really see the advantages from which they benefit through living in the EU. I think it would be interesting to hear what’s stopping them to do so and how inhabitants of other EU countries feel about living in this European community.

Health care in the EU

Even though it’s an interesting topic, I barely know what the European Union does in terms of health care, because it’s not really something that is in the news on a daily basis. I know that the EU offers its citizens the European Health Insurance Card, but to get beyond that further research would have to be done – best to be done so in an academic paperJ